Gonzaga has upgraded from the WCC, but the 'new' Pac-12 is far from a basketball power

We have reached the point in the conference realignment contagion where we’re supposed to believe the principals are serious about basketball, because Gonzaga is on the move.

OK, so let’s take them at their word.

Just not all their words.

“We are excited to join a conference with great tradition ...” the statement from Zags athletic director Chris Standiford began. Those words come off like they were written for a standup routine delivered by a comedian who deals in snark, like John Mulaney.

The Pacific-12 Conference had great tradition. This organization has a legal justification to call itself the Pac-12, because the 16.7 percent of members left behind when the other 83.3 percent hustled off to more stable leagues retained the rights to the brand. They did not retain the rights to UCLA’s history, though, or Stanford’s under Mike Montgomery, or the glory of Arizona basketball under Lute Olson and his successors.

Gonzaga becomes new Pac-12 standard-bearer

Now that Gonzaga is joining as the league’s eighth member, the Pac-12 does get to own the Zags’ tradition now. What they have accomplished in the past 25 years ranks with any program you wish to name, even those designated as bluebloods. The Zags have been in every NCAA Tournament in that period. North Carolina can’t say that. They have been a No. 1 seed five times. UConn can’t say that. They have played in the NCAA Championship game twice. Purdue can’t say that. They’ve been to nine consecutive NCAA Sweet 16s. No one else can say that.

What else is there, though?

How formidable is the new Pac-12 as a basketball league?

One true answer: better than the West Coast Conference was with the Zags included.

Another that may be true: better than the Pac-12 was for the past decade.

One that seems rather extravagant at the moment: a national force.

The Pac-12 Gonzaga shall join consists, at the moment of: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah State and Washington State. We listed the members in alphabetical order so as not to sway any opinions.

How many in that list stand out as college basketball powers? In this century, we mean, not going all the way back to the 1980s glory days of Ralph Miller and the Beavers. The answer is, sorry to say, only San Diego State.

There are competitive programs, most notably Boise State and Utah State. There are programs with some history, principally OSU’s Beavers under Hall of Famers Miller and Slats Gill. There are programs that have had fine years, like Colorado State lately under Niko Medved.

In the 2000s, Gonzaga has made 24 March Madness appearances and won 43 tournament games. The other seven Pac-12 schools combined have reached the NCAAs an average of six times in the same period. And maybe that’s a little unfair to San Diego State, which owns 13 of the 44 total bids. Washington State and Fresno State have been there only three times. For Oregon State, it’s twice.

We can acknowledge that five of the other seven Pac-12 members reached the NCAAs last year and present that as evidence of growth, of promise. As ever, though, only San Diego State joined the Zags in the Sweet 16. Utah State and Washington State won round of 64 games. Colorado State advanced from the First Four and thus officially won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2013. Boise State has yet to win in March Madness.

We can’t be certain whether all of the 2023-24 success stories will endure. When they completed last season, promising coaches Kyle Smith (WSU to Stanford) and Danny Sprinkle (Utah State to Washington) departed.

The problem Gonzaga is likely to encounter when it enters this new phase in the fall of 2026 is the games will be more challenging than those that were standard in the WCC. But they might not be that much more rewarding when it comes to March Madness selection and seeding.

The five evacuees from the Mountain West were part of a league that earned a surprising five NCAA Tournament bids, largely because their performances were highly valued by a variety of performance metrics, most obviously – but not exclusively – the NCAA’s NET ranking. Those programs managed to gain those rankings without defeating a vast number of significant powers. Among them, Utah State, Boise State, SD State and CSU earned a combined four regular-season wins against teams that were seeded in the top half of the NCAA Tournament field. No surprise, two of those wins were earned by the Aztecs.

“Today represents an exciting milestone for the Pac-12 as we welcome another outstanding institution with a rich history of success into our league,” Commissioner Teresa Gould said in the league’s release.

“Another”?

Like we said: Take them at their word that basketball matters in the zombie Pac-12.

Just not every word.